on a cool los angeles night....

So I'm sitting in the backyard of my uncle`s house in Los Angeles and it`s beautiful outside right now. The weather is absolutely gorgeous and the dark sky is so clear. So many changes have occured in my life right now and all around me too. It`s strange; sitting at the "grown-ups" table, metephorically speaking. Once you`ve hit adulthood, the verbal usage changes and the conversations become so candid, enough to show you that the real world is not all sunshine and rainbows. It`s a scary feeling but it also feels so nice to know I'm part of it, like being accepted to sit at the cool kids table in the cafeteria.

All these changes have brought me to thinking about what it was like when I was younger, when I didn't know as much and wasn't suseptible (spelling) to all the grown things out in the world. I started thinking about;

Going outside to play skip-it in the cul-de-sac at my old house growing up when the grown-ups were in the kitchen talking.

When kool-aid, juice and sunny d was all I needed; no venti coffee, three splendas, add soy necessary.

When worrying about my creative writing assignment would get a passing grade instead of worrying about gas prices and higher rent payments.

How easy it was to have a boyfriend in elementary school was easy; all you needed was a gift from the 99 cent store for valentines day and the goosebumps series for his birthday and that boy was yours, well at least until you hit 6th grade.

When all the finances I thought about were how many quarters I had saved up from the weeks worth of chores to buy another babysitters club book; instead of $300 for college books.

When finding a job was easy; just ask mom. Now it's graduate from high school, go to college, get a degree and prosper.

When making gifts for friends and family out of macaroni and beads was the best present ever; now it`s wth.

When I didn't have to worry about losing a friend; now, thanks to the under-age drinking and licenses, I lost a friend.

When having dolls was fun to dress up and play with but at the end of the day, you put them away; now, you have life-size dolls that at the end of the day are still there and a bigger responisibilty than any doll you`ve ever had.

More to come....